The hardest job he ever had, Bob Saget used to tell me, was serving as emcee of our annual synagogue gala. He could never just say the first thing that would pop into his mind, he explained, because it would inevitably be a joke that was too risqué for a synagogue event. He constantly had…
Peter Bogdanovich, the bandana-throated, Oscar-nominated director-writer who was a bridge figure between New Hollywood and the Hollywood Golden Age has died at 82. Encompassing such classics as “The Last Picture Show,” “Paper Moon” and “What’s Up, Doc?” Bogdanovich’s career ranged from intimate dramas to broad screwball comedies. He later charmed new audiences as Dr. Melfi’s…
If ever there was someone who had cause to be embittered, it would be Izzy Arbeiter, who died Friday at the age of 96. He was 14 when the German occupied his town in Plock, Poland in 1939. Soon came the ghettos, then the torturous goodbye to his parents and little brother who would be…
(JTA) — Rabbi Moshe Tendler, an expert in Jewish law and medical ethics, died Tuesday at age 95. A dean of the rabbinical school and a professor of Jewish medical ethics and biology at Yeshiva University, Tendler was considered an expert in issues of Jewish law and medical ethics. But he was most famous for…
This is an excerpt from “I Am Jewish: Personal Reflections Inspired by the Last Words of Daniel Pearl” (2004), edited by Judea and Ruth Pearl. Ruth Pearl died July 20, 2021 at the age of 85. Growing up as a Jewish child in Baghdad left me with recurring nightmares of being chased by a knife-wielding…
Ruth Pearl, who died July 20 at the age of 85, fought a thousand battles in her lifetime. She didn’t look like a warrior— barely five feet tall, rail thin with cropped brown hair and a soft voice that quavered, especially as she fought respiratory problems in later life. But when I first met her,…
Malkah Schulweis did not fit the mold of rebbetzin that prevailed in mid-century American synagogue life . Rabbi Harold M. Schulweis, recognized as one of the great American rabbis of the 20th century, used to tell me that he never delivered a sermon, published an article, or embarked on an initiative, without it first passing…
The shortest job interview I ever had was with the most powerful woman in the world, Naomi B. Levine, who died today at age 98. Naomi was Senior Vice President for External Affairs at New York University, and I was a young rabbi hoping to serve as executive director of the Edgar M. Bronfman Center…
די ווילנער דאָקטוירים יעקבֿ וויגאָדסקי און צמח שאַבאַד זענען אויך געווען געזעלשאַפֿטלעכע טוער.
יעקבֿ פֿינקלמאַן באַשרײַבט אויך זײַן לאַנגיאָריקן פֿאַך — ווי ער האָט צוגעשטעלט וויסן אין טעלעקאָמוניקאַציע איבער דער וועלט
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